Commercial vehicle cleaning facilities obtain car wash soap from distributors and/or suppliers, usually in concentrated form, and then use the soap concentrate in a car wash system. Typical car wash systems involve diluting the soap concentrate with water, spraying a vehicle with the diluted car wash soap, scrubbing the vehicle, rinsing and drying the vehicle.
Hydrofluoric acid has desirable cleaning properties associated with its use. However, serious hazards exist in connection with the storage, use and exposure to compositions containing hydrofluoric acid. In addition to common hazards generally associated with strong acids, hydrofluoric acid has several hazards particularly related to fluoride ions. For example, upon contact with the human body, fluoride ion in an acidic environment readily penetrates the skin causing destruction of deep tissue layers including bone tissue. This is because fluoride ion is not rapidly neutralized by the human body, unlike many other compounds such as phosphoric acid. Moreover, the effects on the human body due to exposure to hydrofluoric acid are often not readily detected, and in fact, take hours and sometimes days to become apparent.
In light of the circumstances described above, there are potential hazards and dangers associated with the proposition of transporting, storing and using car wash formulations containing hydrofluoric acid. The present invention overcomes these potential hazards and dangers.